Facility Services: ESG and Corona-related changes lead to positive outlook for market development

17 August 2022 – Mindelheim

The market volume for Facility Services increased by 1.9 percent to EUR 55.0 billion in 2021. This means that it has grown again following the first-time decline in market volume in 2020 to EUR 54.0 billion, due to the corona crisis. The fact that the pre-crisis level of EUR 55.4 billion has not yet been reached again is primarily due to the restrictions still being experienced in the second corona year and the post-cyclical market development.

Growth was driven by less stringent restrictions on the operation of commercial properties, corona-related additional services such as higher cleaning intervals, and price developments. The continued slump in demand for catering and event services had a dampening effect.

The outlook for the 2022 financial year is mixed: On the one hand, Facility Management is becoming significantly more important, in the wake of ESG reporting requirements and the need for more sustainable operation of commercial properties. On the other hand, many clients are showing reluctance to invest in view of the uncertainties and increased inflation, as well as the war against Ukraine.

These are selected results of the Lünendonk Market Survey 2022 “Facilities Management Companies in Germany”, available now at www.luenendonk.de.

ESG in commercial real estate relies on Facility Management

Real estate investors and funds are obliged by EU regulations on corporate responsibility (Corporate Social Responsibility, EU taxonomy, ESG) to collect and publish data on, inter alia, the sustainability of their own corporate activities. This also applies to concerns from investors and their portfolio properties in particular.

The Facility Service companies see their contribution to the reporting and policy objectives both in the provision of actual data and in the provision of advice on measures to increase sustainability, as well as in their implementation.

The companies see particularly high potential in the areas of energy management, optimisation of building automation, and building technology. In terms of infrastructural services, the service providers see the greatest impact potential in facility cleaning and catering services.

Market development favours integrated services

The decarbonisation of commercial real estate in Germany and the corona-related accelerated change in use present operators with a greater need for transformation. In order to get a grip on the increasing complexity of real estate operations, larger clients in particular are tying together Facility Management activities and responsibilities. Leading service providers in particular are responding to this by expanding their range of services and service management.

Lünendonk partner Thomas Ball assesses this development as follows: “The current market development favours integrated service providers who can map complex service management processes – increasingly also across countries. Digitisation is no longer just ‘nice to have’, but an essential component of effective management. The great demand for Facility Services will therefore not lead to a loss of importance of individual companies or groups, but rather to an increased segmentation into maintenance and management specialists.”

Purchase

The 19th edition of the Lünendonk Survey “Facilities Management Companies in Germany” is based on a survey of 62 service providers. In 2021, these generated 28.4 percent of the market volume of EUR 55.0 billion calculated by Lünendonk. The study thus provides a comprehensive overview of the structure of the German Facility Services market. The survey contains numerous long-term evaluations, detailed analyses, as well as interpretations on market structure and current topics and trends. It is currently available at the price of 2,200 euros plus VAT, at www.luenendonk.de as a PDF file with company licence.

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Lünendonk Survey 2022: Facilities Management Companies in Germany